SIMPLE AND CLEAN IS DA WAY DAT UR MAKIN' ME FEEL 2NYT

SO. You may or may not have heard, but I finished Kingdom Hearts the other day. As in the first KH game. THIS IS A VERY BIG DEAL OK BECAUSE I COULDN'T (or rather chose not to) GET PAST TRAVERSE TOWN THE FIRST TIME I PLAYED THE GAME WHEN IT CAME OUT.

Let us recall the story of my KH beginnings. The very first time I had ever encountered Kingdom Hearts was in the game section of a K-Zone issue way back when. What first caught my eye was the art: there was a picture of a brown-haired boy being forced to smile by Disney's Donald and Goofy, along with an unknown redhead and a silver-haired guy at the back. Based on the article, I had deduced that this was a Square-Disney collaboration, which I thought was an epic idea because omg Disney and Final Fantasy omg excuse me while I salivate???

Fast forward some time later, and I was at Shang for mass. My parents and I were outside the toy store (which, I think, was still called Kidz Station back then) and I wanted to check out the video games. And then I saw Kingdom Hearts and screamed (loljk not rly) and I really, really wanted it. So we got it.

Except we didn't even have a PS2 at the time HAHAHAHA I was already content with just having a copy, as silly as that sounds. But eventually we did get a PS2, so you could say I got a PS2 because of KH.

Anyway, I remember getting all starry eyed as I watched the game's intro after my dad set up the PS2 for the first time. And then I remember getting intimidate by the first boss fight. Enter Traverse Town and I didn't want to leave the First District because I was so scared of failing LMAO It just came to a point when I stopped playing altogether.

Around 4 years (more or less, pls math) had passed when I got a hold of the sequel, and somehow I had miraculously finished that (albeit it took maybe a year because I'd always stop playing whenever I got stuck somewhere, haha) but still never managed to finish the first KH game because whenever I thought of the intro and Traverse Town, I'd just remember those feelings of intimidation and discouragement.

And theeeen a few years ago, I finally picked up the first KH game again. I was already a college student at the time, and no, I wasn't afraid anymore HAHAHA. The game really, really pissed me off though, because the controls were so wonky! AND THE FACT THAT MAPS DIDN'T EXIST WAS SUCH A HEADACHE OKKKK. Hollow Bastion was especially difficult without a map because it was so confusing. I ended up consulting a walkthrough during the entire Hollow Bastion playthrough because I'd always get lost. I ended up leaving the game indefinitely because I had to go back to Hollow Bastion again for the world's final boss fight, but I just wasn't up to putting myself through that headache again.

Then the HD remake came out, and I wasn't intending to get it at all, because I was like "BUT I JUST MADE MYSELF GO THROUGH HELL WITH THE PS2 ORIGINAL I DON'T WANNA DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN IT'LL BE AN HD HEADACHE" except lol I impulsively ended up buying it a good while after it was released.

I decided to make the PS3 file my walkthrough file, because there was no way I was gonna play the entire thing again all lost and confused. BUT ANYWAY I EVENTUALLY FINISHED IT AND IT WAS SO MAGICAL AND HISTORICAL BECAUSE KINGDOM HEARTS IS THE NUMBER ONE FANDOM IN MY LIFE AND FOR ME TO FINISH THE FIRST GAME IS A V E R Y BIG DEAL!!!!!!

Well, for me to finish ANY game is a big deal already, as you already know. I have a bad history of abandoning games so it's very rare for me to finish anything. (I mean, I made SUCH a big deal over Lightning Returns, and even pre-ordered and everything, but then I got stuck and haven't played the game in over a month since getting it...) All in good timing too, because I predict I'll be impossibly busy come April.

Things I would like to discuss:
• Boss battles in KH1 are a lot easier than KH2 boss battles. At least for me it was? I mean regardless of the walkthrough, even in my PS2 file I went through boss battles with relative ease, and for me to say that means the difficulty level isn't much because I'm easily intimidated by boss battles. The hardest bosses in KH1 were prolly Maleficent and the final boss. However, I feel like everything else in KH1 is a bit harder. For one, there aren't any maps. Two, there are a LOT of puzzles. Three, THESE GODDAMN CONTROLS ARE SO WONKY LIKE I CANNOT. I feel like the controls were improved in the HD remake, but there were still times when I just. No.

• How did I ever live my life with Dodge Roll?

• How did I ever live my life spamming just Curaga when Aeroga was always there waiting for me? (Srsly, towards the end of the game, I became very Aerora-dependent.)

I'm really, really excited for KH 2.5 now, because HD!KH2 and BBS I WILL FINALLY BE ABLE TO PLAY BBS BECAUSE I NEVER GOT TO PLAY IT ON THE PSP AAAAAA

I've also begun playing KH3D now, because I'm still on a KH high (when am I not?) and I am prolonging my feels because HOW DO I EVEN GO ON WITH MY LIFE NOW???!!!?

tl;dr this is another video game feels post, good day

toilettereads: Heartbeat, Heartbreak

I read a lot in February. Or maybe just more than usual, and I have a lot to say about it. More under the cut, which is mostly spoiler-free as I tried to keep deets as vague as possibru.